Denton County Bar Association
Denton County Courthouse
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The Executive Board and Committees
of the Denton County Bar Association

President

  1. Establish Committees
  2. Appoint Committee Chairs and members of each committee
  3. Oversee the scheduling and publication of monthly bar meetings and speakers, notify Secretary/Treasurer and coordinate approval for CLE from State Bar
  4. Write monthly "From the President" article for newsletter
  5. Call, schedule, oversee the notification of the directors, and chair monthly and "as needed" Executive Board/Board of Director’s meetings
  6. Respond to news media
  7. Chair monthly Bar meetings
  8. Oversee and approve social activities
  9. Oversee finances and budgeting

President-Elect

  1. Preside over monthly executive committee meetings or bar meetings in the absence of the President
  2. Assist the President as requested
  3. Chair the Bylaws Review and Redrafting Committee
  4. Submit names of proposed members to the President for consideration for appointment to the Bylaws Review and Redrafting Committee
  5. Oversee the annual review and redrafting of the DCBA Bylaws when redrafting is needed
  6. Distribute any proposed revised bylaws to the membership in a timely fashion before a called vote thereon so as to give the membership notice of the proposed revisions and vote
  7. Work with the President and other directors to develop and coordinate a continuum of plans to achieve the bar association’s long-terms goals

Vice President

  1. Chair the Courts Committee
  2. Submit names of proposed members to the President for consideration for appointment
  3. Appoint a committee, redraft and oversee the approval of the Local Rules of Court, as needed
  4. Prepare, distribute to the membership for voting, calculate, and publish the annual judicial/staff poll
  5. Prepare, distribute to the membership and tabulate membership survey, when requested by the President

Secretary/Treasurer

The Secretary/Treasurer of the organization is responsible for

  1. Holding, maintaining, and balancing all the organizations’ checkbooks
  2. Issuing checks for accounts payable in a timely fashion upon receipt thereof
  3. Providing a monthly treasurer’s report at each Executive Board meeting and at each bar association meeting
  4. Sending out monthly bar meeting notices and social event notices
  5. Preparing and sending out notices for membership and bill for payment annual dues in August of each year
  6. Recruiting for membership those attorneys practicing in Denton County that do not belong to the Bar
  7. Maintaining current membership information on each member of the bar association

Board of Directors/Committee Chairs
The President of the Bar Association may appoint specific directors to chair committees or appoint other members of the Bar Association to serve as chairs of the followings committees.

DCBA Committees

Courts Committee
The Courts Committee shall act as liaison between the Bar and the Courts to improve the efficiency of the Bar and the Courts for the benefit of both and the population served by them, including redrafting the Local Rules of Court when the Executive Board directs that to be appropriate. The Vice President is customarily appointed by the President of the association to chair the Courts Committee.

CLE Committee
The CLE Chair, with the assistance of any committee member requested by the chair, submits the names and topics of speakers chosen by the President for each bar meeting, the section chair of each section meeting, and any seminar sponsored by the Bar to the State Bar CLE department in whatever time in advance as required for approval that would avoid incurring a late charge, if possible.
The CLE Committee is also responsible for preparing material for and publicizing any video or live seminars by CLE, facsimile, newspaper or mailer, and coordinating with Media Services (if available) at the facility for the necessary equipment for any video or audio presentations.

The CLE Committee shall be responsible for meeting the requirements of the State Bar of Texas to continue the Denton County Bar Association’s status as a CLE provider that is not required to have an attendee complete a "grid sheet," at each CLE event. In the event that a "grid sheet" is required, the CLE Committee shall secure and make available CLE grid sheets at each event for attendees to fill out for the CLE they earn at that event. The CLE Chair and the Committee under the direction of the chair shall forward all information as necessary to the State Bar CLE department for each attendee to receive credit for the CLE attended by him or her.

Communications Committee
The President of the Association may appoint a Bar Director or other member of the association to serve as chair of the Communications Committee. The President may also appoint subcommittee chairs and members of each subcommittee as the President deems appropriate.

External Communications Subcommittees:

Media Relations/Public Relations Subcommittee
The Media Relations/Public Relations subcommittee of the Communications Committee shall meet with Editorial Boards of local newspapers when appropriate, schedule column writers, issue press releases and receive and forward newsworthy items to the newspapers, radio and cable television. The current goal of the DCBA is to have at least one article published each month about the Bar and/or to have a weekly column on Sunday in the Denton County newspapers with one a month written by the President of the Bar Association and/or other weeks by members of the Bar on a rotating basis.

Speakers Bureau Subcommittee
The Speakers Bureau subcommittee shall compile a list of lawyers willing to speak on a particular topic and to notify each of the service clubs and school districts in Denton County that the Bureau is ready and available to provide for their meetings or classes. Upon receiving such a request, the committee will be responsible for scheduling each speaker.

Internal Communications Subcommittees

Website Subcommittee
The Website subcommittee shall be responsible for overseeing the updating and revisions to the website on a continuing basis and in consultation with the President of the Bar Association and the Executive Committee. The chair of the website subcommittee shall be the person to whom updates and revisions are directed from the membership, and the chair shall be responsible for the timely updating and revising of the website by forwarding such information to the webmaster and following up on said updates and revisions.

Newsletter/Photography Subcommittee
The Newsletter subcommittee shall be responsible for overseeing the publishing of a monthly newsletter as directed by the Executive Board, including soliciting articles from the President of the Bar Association, members of the Judiciary, members and sections of the bar, joys and concerns of the bar, and other news stories such as interesting cases. The person or persons appointed to oversee the newsletter shall also be responsible for soliciting, billing, collecting, and keeping a record of accounts receivable for advertising from businesses or individuals involved directly in or in a supporting business to the legal community. The person or persons appointed to oversee the production of the newsletter shall also be responsible for sending reminders of the deadlines that such articles are due and forwarding all the information which has been gathered to the producer of the newsletter in a timely fashion. Upon receipt of any payment for advertising, the person who receives payment thereon shall forward the payment to the treasurer of the bar association immediately upon receipt.

Membership Manual Subcommittee
The Membership Manual subcommittee shall be responsible for reviewing and overseeing the updating of information and photographs, revisions to and publishing the DCBA Membership Manual as directed by the President of the Bar Association and the Executive Committee. One person appointed to the membership manual subcommittee shall be responsible for supervising the reproduction of the photographs made for the membership manual or website and for the billing of the individual member who orders such a reproduction at the price set by the executive board.

ADR/ Settlement Week Committee
The ADR Committee shall study the status of mediation in Denton County and other areas and educate and update the Bar membership and the public of the current status of mediation. The ADR Committee shall educate the membership and the public about mediation by periodic columns in the Bar newsletter and/or in local newspapers. The ADR Committee shall make recommendations to the Bar Association and the Courts as to the role of the Bar Association and the Judiciary in the practice of mediation in Denton County.
Each year, if directed by the President of the Bar Association and the Executive Board, the ADR Committee shall, in cooperation with the Judiciary, review the need for, and if a need is determined to exist, schedule one or more settlement week(s) and schedule training for lawyers to serve as mediators during settlement week of that year.

Pro Bono Committee
The President may appoint members to the Pro Bono Committee, whose responsibilities shall include developing and scheduling programs and clinics at such locations as the Martin Luther King Center in Denton, the Owsley Addition in Denton, and senior centers and local retirement homes in Denton County. This committee will also coordinate assistance to AIDS and hospice organizations in Denton County in the preparation of legal documents such as powers of attorney and physician’s directives as needed by the terminally ill of Denton County.
In addition, the Pro Bono Committee will continue to monitor and oversee the Private Attorney Involvement Program in cooperation with the local legal aid services.

Library Board
This committee shall meet monthly to oversee, consider and approve or disapprove proposed purchases of library materials and the annual budget for the Denton County Law Library. The committee shall notify the Newsletter Committee of new purchases and funds available and expenditures made monthly, and when requested by the President or membership a member shall present a report at the monthly Bar meeting of the committees activities, budget and expenditures.

Photography/Historian Committee
The President of the Bar Association may appoint one or more members to take photographs at each bar meeting and other event during the year, which would be of interest to the membership. These photographs may be used in the bar newsletter, on the bar website, or in county newspapers as deemed appropriate by the President and the Board of Directors. At the end of each year, the photographer(s) shall prepare a notebook of the photographs taken during that President’s year, with one copy given to the outgoing President and one copy archived in the Bar Association office. The bar association shall provide a digital camera for the use of the photographer.

Law Day Committee
The primary responsibility of the Law Day Committee is to organize, publicize and oversee the Law Day and the Law Week activities in the first week of May each year and any other special projects during the year that educate the public about the Bar and judicial system. The committee should begin meeting in the early fall of each year and meet periodically throughout the year, as often as necessary, to plan well in advance for the following year’s projects and activities. In early fall of each year, members should notify the Social Studies director, principals and superintendent in each school district in Denton County regarding programs available, such as the "Now You are 18" pamphlet distribution to high school seniors, schedule speakers for all Denton County high school social studies classes on or around May 1st, Law Day, the Trial of Goldilocks or the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs for 4th and 5th graders, poster contests for 2nd or 3rd graders, and lawyers or legal assistants to read aloud a book about a historic person noteworthy in the field of law for 1st and 2nd graders.

Other activities for the committee’s consideration for Law Day, Law Week or any other time of the year as deemed appropriate:

  • Courthouse on the Square and Denton County Courthouse tours
  • Call-in program for the local radio or television stations around Law
  • Day with a Law Day theme on general question and answer format.
  • Law Day Luncheon with a high profile person in the profession of law
  • Cable or radio call-in show
  • Ask for permission from each local mall to permit us to hang the children’s posters there and pick an art teacher to judge and award a certificate to a winner in each grade in each participating elementary school
  • Coordinate the program with the local Legal Assistants Division to incorporate their assistance in any of these programs in which they wish to participate.

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